Target delivery in traditional Chinese medicine

Most drugs have a widespread distribution in vivo, and effects beyond the disease site are needs to extrude. To herbs, it contains many components with different structure, always have a lot of effects, how to get the desired effect at the desired site is a difficult problem. In ancient China, people usually get this goal by co-administration of other drugs to get the synergy and attenuation effect, and in thousands of years, the experience was summarized as meridian guide theory. About 24 drugs were regarded as the meridian guide drug. Among them, vinegar baked Bupleuri Radix, borneol, platycodi, cassia bark, meridian guide drug of liver, heart, lung, kidney respectively were studied using pharmacological and pharmacokinetic method. Pharmacokinetics study showed that vinegar baked bupleuri radix increased the distribution of resveratrol, rhein and its metabolite, oxymatrine and its metabolite, gentiopicroside in liver, and meanwhile decreased their distribution in other tissues. Platycodi increased the distribution of levofloxacin, florfenicol, difloxacin and roxithromycin in lung, and decreased their distribution in other tissues. Borneol increased the distribution of clindamycin, sodium ferulate, carbamazepine, tetramethylpyrazine, methotrexat, cidomycin, rifampici, puerarin, gastrodin, ginsenoside Rg1, Re, notoginseng R1 in brain. Pharmacological studied showed that platycodi enhanced the curative effect of flos lonicerae and forsythia suspense on treating chronic obstruction pulmonary. Borneol enhanced the curative effect of sodium ferulate, sodium ferulate, scutellarin in brain diseases. Cassia bark enhanced the curative effect of anemarrhenae rhizome and cortex phellodendri in treating hyperplasia of prostate gland. Mechanism study showed that almost all the meridian guide drug inhibited P-gp activity, vinegar baked bupleuri radix increased the permeability and changed the membrane constituents of BRL cell line, borneol loosen the tight junction of blood- brain barrier. Therefore co-administered with meridian guide drug is a simple and effective way for target delivery. This research was financially supported by the found of National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 30672668, 81073063)